Lots of parents ask, "What WAS that you served on name a day? My child just loved it." Generally, I love giving out recipes but it's hard for me because I rarely measure anything, and I'm just not sure what I put into it that particular day. I wrote a novel called Pork Chops and the main character had this same problem. It is a very funny book and available at Amazon, and the character is as variable in the kitchen as I am.
The whole idea around cooking is to have the ingredients on hand and be really familiar with them and not to be daunted with experimentation. One of the things that has been asked for is our school cheese sauce. The story behind the cheese sauce is a funny one. I used the best ingredients for years to make cheese sauce, and it always tasted like soap. The more cheddar cheese I put into it, the worse it got. Never willing to give up on anything, I finally found out - don't use cheddar - use American. Swiss or mozzarella will be stringy.
When you make any kind of a sauce, be it a plain sauce for casseroles, toppings, a gravy like substance or the goo to latch everything together, always start with butter in pan deep enough to boil. Be generous. Melt the butter and add enough flour to make a nice paste. You don't have to measure...you can see it happen in front of you. Now cook that for a minute. Then, add your milk. You can add soy, rice, or regular cow's milk. You can even use half and half or cream. The amounts are about half a stick of butter and 1/2 a cup of flour to two cups of milk. Now as the milk is warming, add a tablespoon of chicken bouillon and stir. Then add your cheese - American please. At least two pieces for everyone eating. Two cups of milk means about eight slices. When the mix begins to boil, take it off the heat and add a cup of sour cream.
Breaking this down into smaller portions, use 1/4 stick butter, 1/4 cup flour, 1 cup milk, 4 slices of cheese and 1/2 cup of sour cream.
A good substitute is: saute onions and mushrooms in the butter then add the flour and 1/2 cup of white wine. Then milk or cream, then Parmesan cheese. A little tomato something will turn it pink.
Cheese sauce will last a week in the fridge. You can use it on lots of things: potatoes, rice, noodles, eggs and as an addition to meat. A cheese sauce made plain with blue cheese makes a great beef sauce. Cheese sauce glues anything together in a casserole dish. Reduce the milk, and it becomes a layer in a casserole. Poured, it's great on fish, chicken, and pork. For pork, add a little horseradish. Sometimes I put a cheese sauce into a pitcher so people can help themselves. My daughter, Anne, likes to put in carrots, potatoes and chicken pieces already cooked, and add a stunning crust and bake as a pot pie.
This Saturday, I bought 1/2 pound of fresh large shrimp and 1/2 pound of fresh cod fish. I used half the fish and cubed the cod fish and cut the shrimp into the same size pieces as the cod. I made a sauce with red wine and Parmesan cheese and a little salsa. When the sauce was bubbling, I put in the fish and shrimp and let it sit about three minutes and served it over whole grain angel hair pasta.
The next round with the rest of the shrimp and cod will be made into a tomato thing. The fish cost about $4.00 per night. A little pricer than I usually go, but it fed three.
Lots to do with cheese sauce and the variations. Enjoy.
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